![]() ![]() Smith released a series of depth charges while an RAF crewman radioed coordinates of the massive target. A barrage of anti-aircraft fire from the ship erupted. But after losing his bearings in the cloud, Smith swerved back into clear air-and got a nearly vertical view down the Bismarck’s smokestack. ![]() ![]() Surprised to suddenly spot the vessel, Smith steered the American-made seaplane-exported to Britain as part of the Lend-Lease program-into a cloud bank to safely shadow the battleship from afar. Navy Ensign Leonard Smith was at the controls of a Royal Air Force Consolidated PBY-5 flying boat that morning in May 1941, scouring the surface of the Atlantic for the notorious German battleship Bismarck. Though not in strict compliance with the Neutrality Act of 1939, U.S. “My God, what have I done?” Leonard Smith recalled thinking. Flak from a battleship below exploded all around it. ![]()
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